It was August 25th, a week before my due date. I had everything ready to go about a week before and now I felt like I was just waiting around for this little girl to come. Every time I would do a grocery shopping trip or cleaned the house I hoped that she would come that night so that everything was ready to go, but then I would end up at the store again or cleaning a toilet, still pregnant. I really was trying not to complain though. Things really aren't so bad for me pregnant. She was feeling really heavy to me towards the end though. I was sure she would be my biggest baby yet, even though the Dr. kept telling me that I was measuring 3 weeks smaller than I was. The ultrasound that I had at the end of July had her weighing about 6 lbs and I still had another 5 weeks to go.
I had gone to the store right before dinner on the 25th to stock up the fridge. If I went past the next day it would be the longest I was ever pregnant (Benny being 6 days early). Shad made a simple dinner and we put the kids to bed. I cleaned the house making sure everything was put together for school the next day and then got ready for bed about 10:00 pm. I laid in my bed for about 5 minutes trying to fall asleep when I felt a gush of fluid come out. I tapped Shad and said "my water broke, time to go to the hospital." Sure enough, as I stood up, more fluid came out. This was for real! I'm glad that I had this same experience with two of my other pregnancies, so I knew that it would probably be a little while before she would actually make her appearance. We called our friend Monica and she headed up to our house to sleep there with the kids.
We headed into the ER at the hospital and got checked in. They carted me upstairs in a wheelchair, even though I actually felt totally fine. I had about 4 contractions since my water broke an hour before.
I didn't progress very quickly, which is kind of a blessing because I had to have antibiotics for 5 hours for Group B strep. About 3:00am I was at about a 4 and I found myself breathing through contractions so I asked for an epidural. It took her a while to get in there. In the meantime I heard another mom screaming down the hall and I thought "I'm glad I'm not feeling what she is." Shad of course slept through all of this, including my contractions. The anethesiologist said she was grateful to have an easy one after that last one. Apparently the girl down the hall screaming had the epidural done right before the baby came. The anethesiologist kept asking me how tall I was, and said that I had a lot of "territory" to work with back there. I think she wasn't used to working on someone with such a long torso. Probably also the reason why I was measuring so small.
The epidural worked great. I didn't feel anything. However, it was a much different epidural than I had had with any of my other pregnancies. I felt like I was 350 pounds and couldn't move my legs AT ALL by myself. With my other ones I at least felt some pressure and I could lift my legs into the stirups when it was time to push. I asked if they could back it off, but they said there was only one dosage and that was it. I remembered having a button to give me more medicine if I needed it with my other births. I took a nap once they got the epidural in and about 6:00 I started to feel like it might be about time. I wanted to hold off until 8:00 though, so I would have my own dr. (Dr. Fulfer) deliver her. It got to about 7:30 am and I found out that she wasn't going to be able to be there anyway because she had a house closing to go to. So they called in the on call doctor, Dr. Hennesay and he would be the one to deliver her. I actually really liked him. He was good about telling me what was going on and I think he actually stitched me up where I tore better than any of the other doctors I had. I didn't even feel the stitches during my recovery at all. I really didn't push too long. Maybe, about 15 minutes and then she was out at 8:02 am.
However, this birth was not without it's memorable moments. Once I got to pushing out her shoulders I guess she got a little stuck. She was "sunny side up" and I think that made things a little tricky. The Dr. said "ok, you need to give a really big push because you are on her neck and we need to get past those shoulders." I gave it a push and the next thing I knew, Shad was passed out on the couch. I did a few more pushes and she was out, and so was Shad. He woke up flailing his arms around at the nurses. They kept saying to him "you're at the hospital with your wife having a baby." He just curled up in a ball. Afterwards he told me that he really did not know what was going on. He knew it was something important, but he couldn't remember. I cut the cord (since Shad was out of commission) and cuddled her into my arms. Shad was really sad that he missed taking pictures of her right after she came out and was all messy. He calls these the "national geographic" pictures. He was able to get pictures of her being weighed and everything because they let me hold her and nurse her for 30 minutes before they did all of that. She even pooped on me during that time as I was feeding her.
So, Shad passed out at both of our daughter's births, but they both had some other things in common: He had been sick the day before, he was at the hospital with me all night while I was laboring and was tired, and he hadn't eaten anything in a long time. So I guess all of those things put together make for an inevitable passed out husband.
She is totally perfect. She weighed 8 lbs 3oz and was 21 inches long. My biggest baby so far. Her head was shaped perfect with just a little bit of fuzzy dark hair. She has a perfect little face with chubby cheeks. She actually looks just like the 3D ultrasound that we had done a few weeks earlier (totally amazing.)
The first night in the hospital was a little rough. I usually LOVE my stay in the hospital. It is so relaxing. However, Carle hospital does not have a nursery anymore. I guess a lot of hospitals are starting to get rid of them. I think they are trying to encourage nursing more and so they do a 24hr room in with the baby. It really is a terrible idea because I was up all night long with her. She wanted to eat every 1-2 hours and I was totally exhausted from not sleeping the night before. With my other kids I sent them into the nursery, let them have bottles for that night and had my last good night of sleep before reality set in. Luckily I was able to have Shad sleep with me in the hospital that night, otherwise I think I would have lost it. One of the YSA's, Emily, came to the hospital that night, and took the kids back home and stayed with them so he could be with me. It was a huge blessing and she put up with a lot because Gracie wasn't feeling well that night and ended up in her bed.
The kids were totally in love with her, except Benny. He had no idea what was going on. I remember Jack being a lot more aware of what was going on when Gracie was born and they are the same distance apart. Jack could even say "baby" and pointed to Gracie. Benny doesn't talk and just yells when he doesn't get attention. It has been a little bit of an adjustment I think because I really do have 2 babies right now.
Shad took off the week after she was born to help out. Halfway into the week I could tell he was a little stir crazy so I let him build some new shelves for the garage to keep him busy. He also painted and installed a new front door and built a bench swing for the front porch in the last 2 weeks. For some reason having a extra time off after having a baby always produces finished projects around the house.
Last night my mom and sister Jenni left after being here for 10 days helping out with the kids. It was such a blessing to have them here. Today was my first day alone with 5 kids and Shad had institute tonight. I think it actually went really well. I am doing a lot better at being patient lately. Over the past 6 months that was something that I was really praying for and I think that the Lord has blessed me with more than I even expected. When people ask how I'm going to be able to handle 5 kids I realize that the Lord gives you the capacity to do what you need to do. He has blessed me with the patience and the time to take care of all of these kids. I'm sure I will have a lot of overwhelming moments but I'm confident that the Lord will make up where I am lacking and that is very reassuring to me.
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